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Lewis Hamilton questions McLaren's tyre strategy

Lewis Hamilton thinks McLaren should have followed Red Bull's strategy in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix and saved a fresh set of soft tyres for the race.

The Red Bulls locked out the front row of the grid for Sunday's race and did so using just two of the three sets of soft tyres available to them. As a result both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will have a completely unused set available to deploy at the most opportune time in the race.

Hamilton, who did the same when he won three weeks ago in China, used all three of his sets of soft tyres on Saturday at Istanbul Park but failed to improve significantly on his time at his final attempt.

"I wanted to do the same thing [as Red Bull] and I think we ended up going out and doing two runs [in Q3], and that's not necessarily the right thing I don't think," he told the BBC. "In the last race with the extra set of tyre we didn't benefit too much form it, so it's difficult to know exactly how much of a benefit it will be.

"Still, we're definitely in the fight and I'll be pushing all the way - just as we did last year."

Starting from fourth, Hamilton will be on the dirty side of the grid which has hampered drivers in the past.

"We're starting on the dirty side of the grid - so our biggest challenge tomorrow could be getting off the line," he added. "Every year here I've started on the dirty side here.

"Mercedes GP and Ferrari have picked up their pace, and it might be hard to overtake the Mercedes GP because they're very fast on the straights; so if it pans out like that, the Red Bulls could edge away from us."